VESTAL – Two losses on the weekend, the Junior Legion Hellcats team of Chenango County has some work to do following their back-to-back losses to Vestal at 9-0 and 10-0.

“We played absolutely horrible. Not a single player on the roster showed up to play. They (Junior Hellcats) didn’t respond well. I explained to them that we had to split today’s series at the absolute worst. They all played like they didn’t care,” said Junior Hellcat coach Nick McCullough. “On top of the bad play, we had multiple starters who decided not to come to the game today. Defense played well in both games. All other aspects of the game, we played terrible in.”

The first game between the Junior Hellcats and Vestal’s junior Legion team saw Vestal squeak in a run for the 1-0 lead after the first inning.

A respectable score.

Then the Junior Hellcats imploded – allowing Vestal to round the bases seven times in the second inning for the 8-0 score heading into the third inning. Vestal added their last run in the sixth inning. Vestal secured eight hits in the game, while the Junior Hellcats found the ball just three times.

“We swung at bad pitches, we looked at good ones and didn’t hit. Pitchers weren’t commanding the strike zone, and all of that together equals being outscored 20-0 in two games,” said coach McCullough.

Best at the plate for the Junior Hellcats in game one was JT Vinal 1-2, Brad Beckwith 1-1, and Eli Rodriguez 1-3.

Tom Flanagan would be credited with the loss in game one, pitching 1.1 innings with no strikeouts and four walks. Mike Trevisani struck out five Vestal batters but would allow four hits in relief.

Game two was even worse for the Junior Hellcats, who slid to an 10-0 loss to cap off the doubleheader.

Once again, one bad inning – and five errors – proved to be the major difference in the two squads.

Down 1-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, the Hellcats simply fell off a cliff. Vestal scored eight runs in the bottom of the fourth inning – before tacking on an additional run in the fifth inning.

Taking the loss this time around on the mound for the Hellcats was Nick Shoemaker, who secured just two strikeouts with two walks an allowing 11 hits for 10 runs. Justin Bates pitched one inning for one strikeout and two hits, to close out the game.

Vestal proved to be a monster at the plate in the second game, knocking the ball 13 times, compared to the Junior Hellcats who earned just one hit.

JT Vinal would be the Hellcats lone bright spot at the plate on the weekend, finishing 1-3 in game two.

“I’ve been known to be very tolerant on players who need to miss practices or games. A lot of players and parents have abused this tolerance to the point that the coaching staff and I will be making team policy changes,” said coach McCullough following the loss.

With policy changes coming, the Junior Hellcats (5-7 overall, 2-3 division), will be hoping to correct their ways come Tuesday, June 27. The Junior Hellcats will be home for their next game on June 27, when they host Sidney at 6 p.m.

“We need to shake these two games out of our heads and move on to Sidney on Tuesday,” said coach McCullough.

 

Game one:

H: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0– 0 3 2

V: 1 7 0 0 0 1 x– 9 8 0

 

Game two:

H: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0– 0 1 5

V: 1 0 0 8 1 0 x– 10 13 1